Episode #435

We’ve all been there, staring at blank faces, not quite able to read them, not sure that you want to. This is agony and something that Mikeal Cho and his partners were facing as they waited to hear feedback from a room of mentors early in their stay inside FounderFuel, a Montreal-based incubator.

It didn’t go well.

Left to ponder the feedback – and perhaps their future – the partners settled in to what would be a serious brainstorming session that would take them from the brink of entrepreneurial despair to $500,000 in funding and incredible momentum a short 9 weeks later. This is that story – the one where the founders hunker down and persevere with an idea shaped within an incubator and executed to perfection (so far). This is that story where honesty from the mentors took a talented team and forced them to rethink almost everything – and it worked. This is that story of 3 partners who didn’t quit, didn’t back down and now look at barriers as surmountable.

This is, of course, the story of OOOMF, the LaunchRock for mobile applications but that is not where they started. In this episode you will hear about that disastrous (or serendipitous) meeting with the mentors and what it did to set their sites on new, fertile ground in the mobile space. Mikael offers considerable insight into techniques they used to pivot quickly, grow their community and secure their seed round.

What makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur is the tenacity shown by Mikael and his partners – they didn’t quit, they are building something they are passionate about and they managed to stun those same mentors 3 months after they were left for dead.

Enjoy!

Here is a quick reference of what we covered in the show. Click on the link and the video will take you to that clip

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About Mikael ChoMikael is the founder of ooomf, a Montreal-based web company building the future of social app discovery. Prior to ooomf, Mikael co-founded 2 web companies. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in Psychology.

About the author

Rob Woodbridge

I'm Rob, the founder of UNTETHER.tv and I've spent 14 years immersed in the mobile and pervasive computing world. During this great time I've helped some of the most innovative companies grow their business through mobile. If you are in need of a mobile business advisor or coach, connect with me here to schedule a 30-minute chat.